the taliban is not an enty that works at a specific address. you have to get these things to a point where you can have a set of reasonable conversations. what we have said, though, quite clearly and the secretary of state said this in her speech earlier this year, that the united states is prepared to work with the afghans to work toward a political settlement and to bring the parties to the table without pre-condition. as the president said in his speech the other day, reconciliation will require the taliban or anyone else who comes to the table, to agree to renounce violence and al qaeda and agree to the constitution. but it is an interactive process if you will, fareed. and i think we have all of the elements of that process underway here. >> are you hopeful that you will see results in the next few months? >> i can't predict that at this point. what i can tell you is that we have put in place the lines of work, the pieces of strategy that we think can bring this war in afghanistan to a close, and bring it to the point where the united stat